A Word On Nutrition

Dr. Judith M. Medina Rivera and her friendly staff are committed to make your oral health care a pleasant experience. At Life Dentistry, our goal is more than creating beautiful smiles. Our philosophy is to treat the causes of orthodontic problems and not just the symptoms. In general, the major causes of orthodontic problems are incorrect postural and functional habits that affect the normal dental and facial development. These dysfunctional habits, known as Soft Tissue Dysfunction, include open mouth posture (mouth breathing), incorrect tongue resting position, dysfunctional chewing and swallowing, among many others. The presence of soft tissue pulling such as short labial or lingual frenulums, as well as the presence of airway inflammation or other structural variations in the airway, should be considered as contrubutory factors to the prevalence of some of these habits. The earlier we recognize and correct these habits and their contributory factors, the better the facial development occurs and the need for braces or more invasive orthodontic procedures is reduced.

Our Myofunctional Orthodontics program includes the use of removable myofunctional oral appliances, breathing techniques, oral-facial muscular exercises (orofacial myology therapy), and other educational activities to assist the patient in the correction of the habits that affect the oral-facial development. We use light force orthopedic appliances that do not interfere with the correct position of the tongue, when additional dental arch development is needed. Our goal is to promote normal muscle function, better oral-facial development and a functional airway that result in straighter teeth and improved overall health!

At Life Dentistry we focus on prevention and total wellness!

Poor oral-facial growth and development has been identified in studies as a critical factor for sleep breathing disorders in children (Huang and Guilleminault, 2013). Breathing is the most important function of the body. Many health problems such as sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and ADD/ADHD, among many others have been associated to dysfunctional breathing and airway problems in both children and adults. Most of the airway issues are closely related to oral-facial distortions. The use of appropriate oral-facial orthopedics have shown to be an effective way to improve airway volume and therefore, the prevention of many health problems. Good nutrition through a healthy diet is another fundamental factor for oral health and total wellness. And not just the nutrient dense quality of the food is important, but also the textures that promote chewing, because functional chewing is essential for the continued development of the jaws.

At Life Dentistry we are committed to prevention by starting patient care at ealry ages. We acknowledge that the body systems interact between one another creating a major complex system. We believe in a multidisciplinary approach and in the body/mind connection as optimal ways to achieve total wellness. We focus on solving the root causes of poor oral-facial development and we promote the creation of healthy habits that could last for a lifetime!

Myofunctional Orthodontics focuses on correcting soft tissue dysfunction which affects children's oral-facial development. When the oral-facial development is corrected it results in straighter teeth and a healthier child.